Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I've finally gotten around to watching the Captain Phil tribute on Deadliest Catch. This would be where I tell you that I don't watch a lot of TV shows, but I suppose I do, in reality. I don't watch a lot of shows consecutively, but I can watch me some TV...its like muzak with scenery. Deadliest Catch was an interesting snag for me, pardoning the pun...

I was at a conference in Orlando, at the beautiful Dolphin resort, where my job was to sit at a table with my, not much liked, boss, and tell CEO's of banks about our software products. It was successful, except that the CEO's that came to Orlando to the conference really wanted to come to Orlando to a conference and drink...I think we had 6 people over 3 days. So, aforementioned boss had a great idea: We could split the time at the table and the go back to our rooms to work...because that's what one wants to do when at a conference in Orlando. I thought of telling him that I wanted to drink as well, but it didn't seem right. Actually, it was a bonding experience and I came away appreciating my boss a bit more.

I did my duty and threw myself on the sword, telling him that I knew that he brought his wife and 4 year old daughter with him...and that I'd be fine watching the table and then going back to my room to work...which was more like me banging my head on the wall for no reason.

Captain Phil...happened to be on the Deadliest Catch marathon that commenced that morning, and as I worked the afternoon away, in my room, I got to absorb 5 hours of the show. After that, me and my new tv bros got together every few weeks, courtesy of the DVR machine, and I became a Deadliest Catch fan.

Ok, first of all, Hillstrand looks enough like Bono to be the coolest kat on the show...can you imagine Bono fishing for crab? I suppose maybe to payoff all that African debt.

Back to Captain Phil's tribute: I watched the replay of a life hard lived, but relatively fully lived. He was described repeatedly as one of the hardest working men, those around him knew. I was fascinated by his life.

It caused me to reflect on how hard I work. I wouldn't describe myself as a truly hard working man. I am perfectly capable of working hard, and at times, I absolutely bust my ass. I would not say that I consistently do so. I've also come up with a fairly complex set of reasons why I don't...but, honestly, I don't think they matter.

Hard work, in a man's eye, correlates directly to your character. Inconsistency on my part, translates the same way, as I approach my work. I believe that I simply need to apply myself a bit more, and accomplish a more consistent sense of hard work. I do my job, I do it well, but doing your job and working hard, can be two completely separate things. I could say that I provide the work sufficient with my pay grade, which may or may not be true...I simply don't know what that means today.

And Captain Phil would tell me that's bullshit anyway.

" You can watch things happen, or you can make them happen, or you can wonder what the hell happened..." Captain Phil quoting his dad.

About Me

I'm a stay at home while I work dad. My wonderful Dr. Wife sees kids of all shapes, sizes and colors, so I manage a couple of my favorite kids, then work, then manage those kids, then sleep...and do it again. I fly around the country for work sometimes, I'm not sure what happens to those kids when I do...but they manage.